William Salas Ph.D.
President and Chief Scientist

Prior to forming AGS in 2000, Dr. Salas worked for 5 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and for 10 years at Complex Systems Research Center at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Dr. Salas received his B.S. in Mathematics and Physics at University of Vermont and M.S. and Ph.D. in Natural Resources at UNH. Salas’ expertise and interests include the use of remote sensing tools to model land use and land cover change, soil biogeochemical modeling, and GIS tools for environmental applications. Dr. Salas is an active member of many panels, including the Scientific Advisory Panel for the ALOS Kyoto and Carbon initiative under the auspices of the Japanese Space Agency NASDA. He has also served on the Global Observation of Forest Cover (GOFC) High Resolution Design Team and co-authored the final design document on the role of high-resolution optical and radar systems for operational monitoring of global forests.

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Featured Projects

With funding from the NASA Carbon Monitoring System, Applied GeoSolutions is leading an effort to improve forest monitoring capabilities in Indonesia. The project team, with members from Winrock, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of New Hampshire, Wageningen University, and the University of Virginia, is working closely with the LAPAN, the Indonesian space agency, to collect and analyze LiDAR imagery from across Kalimantan, the Indonesian section of the island of Borneo. The 3-dimensional pictures of the forests provided by the LiDAR imagery are being integrated with information from satellites and from field plots collected on the ground to create a more accurate picture of the carbon content of Indonesian forests. As part of this project, the team will conduct a series of workshops in Indonesia on the use of LiDAR and RADAR data for forest monitoring applications.

The Food and Agriculture Organization estimate more than one billion people are currently undernourished at the same time urbanization is converting cropland to urban land uses. Resilient and sustainable agricultural development is critically needed to ensure more self-sufficiency in crop production and to enhance livelihoods in developing countries. Monitoring of cropland extent, cropping intensity (single, double, and triple crops), irrigation, and crop production is required to support food security programs. In collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Kyoto & Carbon Initiative (K&CI) we are using ALOS PALSAR to map paddy rice across Monsoon Asia. Rice represents one of the world’s most important crops providing energy to more than a billion people and occupying 11% of arable land.

Research at the intersection of limnology and public health is showing that toxins produced from cyanobacteria act as a trigger for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS affects upper and lower motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord with symptoms including wasting of muscles, weakness, difficulty speaking. A lack of water quality information on the presence, extent, magnitude, and intensity of harmful algal and blooms has limited our ability to understand linkages among cyanobacteria, toxicity, and human health. We are developing satellite remote sensing technologies to generate accurate maps and metrics of cyanobacteria and water quality. Operational imagers are combined with well-validated, adaptive algorithms to provide maps and metrics of water quality. We work directly with resource managers and public health officials to supply customized information.